Needless Expense by R. F. COTTRELL

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 29, 1875

“Needless Expense.”

By R. F. COTTRELL

“I saw that some have indulged in needless expense merely to gratify the feelings, the taste, and the eye, when the cause has needed the very means, and when some of the servants of God were poorly clothed, and crippled in their labor for lack of means. Said the angel, ‘Their time to do will soon be past. Their works show that self is their idol, and to it they sacrifice.’”

“I saw that those who have no possessions here, but have strength of body, were accountable to God for their strength. . . . I saw that they could sacrifice, and that it was their duty to do so as well as those that have property. But often these individuals that have no possessions do not realize that they can deny themselves in many ways—can lay out less upon their bodies and to gratify appetite, and find much to spare to the cause and lay up in Heaven a treasure.”

“They [in the narrow way] do not dress like the company in the broad road, nor talk like them, nor act like them. A pattern has been given them. A Man of sorrow and acquainted with grief opened that road for them, and traveled that road himself. His followers see his footsteps, and are comforted and cheered. He went through safely; so can they if they follow his footsteps. In the broad road all are occupied with their persons, their dress, and their pleasures in the way. . . . I saw many traveling in this broad road who had written upon them, ‘Dead to the world. The end of all things is at hand. Be ye also ready.’ They looked just like the vain ones around them, except a shade of sadness which I noticed upon their countenances. . . . Those around them would say, ‘There is no distinction between us. We are all alike. We dress, and talk, and act alike.’ Then I was pointed back to the years 1843 and 1844. There was a spirit of consecration then that there is not now. What has come over the professed, peculiar people of God?”

“I was shown the conformity of some professed Sabbath-keepers to the world. Oh, I saw it was a disgrace to their profession, a disgrace to the cause of God! They give the lie to their profession. They think they are not like the world, but they are so near like them in dress, in conversation, and actions, that there is no distinction. I saw them decorating their poor mortal bodies, which are liable any moment to be touched by the finger of God, and laid upon a bed of anguish. Oh! then, as they approach their last change, mortal anguish racks their frames, and the great inquiry then is, ‘Am I prepared to die; prepared to appear before God in Judgment and stand the grand review?’ Ask them then how they feel about decorating their bodies, and if they have any sense of what it is to be prepared to appear before God, and they will tell you that if they could take back and live over the past, they would correct their lives, shun the follies of the world, its vanity, its pride, and would adorn the body with modest apparel, and set an example to others around them.”

“Many, I saw, dressed like the world to have influence; but here they make a sad mistake. If they would have a true and saving influence, let them live out their profession, show their faith by their righteous works, and make the distinction great between the Christian and the world.”

“I saw that God hates pride, and that all the proud, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble, and the day that cometh shall burn them up.”

“Jesus is coming, and will he find a people conformed to the world? And will he acknowledge them as his people? Oh! no. None but the pure and holy will he acknowledge as his. Those that have been purified and made white through suffering, and have kept themselves separate, unspotted from the world, he will own as his.”

I have quoted thus much from Testimonies to the Church. The point to which I call especial attention is needless expense. To the above testimonies agree the teachings of the apostle. Gold, pearls, and costly array, are prohibited. 1 Tim. 2: 9. Those Quakers who, though they dressed plain, put on the most costly material, have missed the mark. We are accountable to God as stewards for the use or abuse of every dollar he has put into our hands. When we array our persons with costly clothing, or fill our houses with costly furniture, we use the Lord’s money for selfish purposes, to gratify the lust of the eye and the pride of life. When we give three, four, five, or six times, for a piece of furniture or article of wearing apparel, what it would take to get that which is neat and tasteful, and equally serviceable, we might as well sink the excess of means in some marsh. Needless expense is waste of the Lord’s money; and we incur blame, not only for what we thus waste, but for the example we set for others. I call attention to this subject, hoping it may prove a benefit.

R. F. COTTRELL.